- Ukraine says it shot down six of Russia's "unstoppable" Kinzhal missiles over Kyiv early Tuesday.
- In total, a barrage of 18 missiles were intercepted from land, sea and air, officials claimed.
Ukraine says it has shot down an unprecedented six Russian Kinzhal missiles over Kyiv early Tuesday, amid a fierce bombardment from land, sea and air.
Officials said on Tuesday that air defenses had repelled an intense array of missiles and drones overnight in a startling defense against the Kinzhal, a weapon that Putin has touted as unstoppable.
The Kinzhal is capable of carrying a nuclear payload, but in the conflict so far has delivered powerful conventional strikes on Ukrainian targets instead.
The claimed feat comes days after Ukraine said it took down a single Kinzhal for the first time, using the Patriot missile-defense system it was recently given by the US.
According to the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's army, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, six Russian MiG-31K jets launched the Kinzhal missiles overnight.
He said a further nine Kalibr cruise missiles were shot down after being launched from the Black Sea, as well as three land-based S-400, Iskander-M missiles, in a post that was echoed by Ukraine's Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk.
An unspecified number of Iranian-made exploding drones were also repelled, the commanders said.
—Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) May 16, 2023
"It was exceptional in its density — the maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time," said Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, of the barrage, per The Telegraph's translation. He said the vast majority of airborne targets had been taken down.
Insider was unable to verify the tally. Russian state-media outlet TASS made little mention of the attack as of Tuesday morning, other than a brief account of eyewitness reports of explosions over Kyiv and the city's air defenses being deployed.
Debris from the attack struck some cars and a forest area, and a fire broke out in a non-residential building, Popko said.
Russia has long called the Kinzhal an unstoppable hypersonic weapon, but analysts have said that those claims are overblown, as Insider's Ryan Pickrell reported.
In December, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Valery Gerasimov said that the missile is "invulnerable to air defense capabilities deployed in Ukraine," as TASS reported. But this was before the US-provided Patriot missiles arrived in Ukraine.
While it's still a distinct threat, experts have questioned the weapon's "hypersonic" tag, because it can't maintain such speeds throughout its entire trajectory.